Cutting order-entry errors at the counter: where they come from and what fixes them

"Be more careful" has never fixed an error rate. Removing the opportunity to make the error does.

Wrong SKU

Cause: eyeballing similar product names in a list. Fix: barcode scanning for physical goods (the barcode cannot misread itself) and live search with stock levels shown, so the wrong variant looks wrong immediately.

Wrong quantity

Cause: keying under time pressure. Fix: a stock warning when the quantity exceeds availability — which catches most fat-fingered zeros — plus the line total visible next to the quantity, because £4,800 of washers announces itself.

Wrong price

Cause: manual lookup from spreadsheets or memory. Fix: tier pricing applied automatically per customer, price memory for negotiated exceptions, and a below-cost margin warning as the final backstop.

Wrong address

Cause: retyping. Fix: never type an address that exists — auto-fill from the customer's Linnworks order history and pick from their known addresses.

All four fixes ship in Trade Order POS. The error rate drops because the errors stop being possible.

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